East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has announced an enhanced budget and sops to schools to improve their lot. Unfortunately, most money would be spent in creating the infrastructure and providing material facilities because these are the easy ways to spend the funds.

EDMC HAS decided to construct new schools; build additional classrooms and provide computer labs in all its schools; provide a desk for every child; and give free new bags to students every year. Moreover, all grade four and five students in municipal schools will get computer tablets along with enhanced annual motivational allowance for girl to stay in the schools.

In
Focus

In order to provide for material inputs to its schools in the coming financial year, EDMC has made an allocation of Rs 475 crore to the education sector.

All over India, under the Education-for-All (EFA) projects, government education departments are interested in infrastructural inputs and supplies to the schools since it is linked to quick and easy spending and 'making money' and the 'scandals in school purchases' have become rampant, believe many.

It seems that the government officials are not interested in investing in improving classroom processes and teachers' professional skills as it requires hard work and field visits. EDMC has come up with a 'School Adoption Scheme' and is trying to rope in corporate houses to adopt schools to do the 'hard work' on their behalf.